Rating: 
Summary: Best book in a while......
Review: Sometimes I think having an association with a favorite writer is like marriage-for better or worse. I have not liked several recent mysteries by Deborah Crombie, but I hung in there, reading her latest book waiting for another DREAMING OF THE BONES or KISSED A SAD GOODBYE. I have been rewarded by her latest book-NOW MAY YOU WEEP.
Folks talk about the perfect storm-and this book is the perfect book. First of all it is a really good read and I read it in two sittings. The main characters-the two detectives Gemma James and Duncan Kincaid-are back and in fine form, and mostly behaving like the professional cops they are supposed to be. Gemma and Duncan have found a way to live together and work together without actually being on the same payroll together-thus sparing the sensibilities of those of us who grow weary of watching coworkers sleep their way to the top. The plot of the book, while not ingenious is very good-and believable, and the setting is to die for. The development of the supporting characters, especially longtime friend Hazel is quite credible and long overdue. Crombie's description of child and animal behavior is also quite good. According to the book jacket Crombie lives with three cats and a dog, so she is obviously aware and observant, and possesses a skill for understanding feline and canine behavior.
One of the best features of the book, from my perspective, is that Crombie describes the art of whiskey manufacture without overwhelming the reader with too much information. As the relative of a long line of Scots who made `fine" whisky in the hills of Kentucky and who went on to make liquor long after Prohibition was the law of the land (didn't everyone have a grandfather with a still in the chicken house and a grandmother who put up `medicinal' dandelion wine?), I greatly appreciated the detail about Scotch whiskey making.
This is a sad book. Even though I could tell from the telltale foreshadowing who the victim would be, I kept hoping it was not so. I could also figure out just ahead of the detectives who the murderer was which every mystery reader likes to do. Probably the thing I liked the best about this book is that Crombie has acknowledged ever so skillfully and subtly that divination and clairvoyance are quite real (either that or she has moved into the area of fictional writing known as magical realism-either way it is great!!). Good police work and good parenting are often quite intuitive. Keep it up Ms Crombie. This is the best so far.
Rating:
Summary: Scotland and Deborah Crombie - great combination!
Review: This latest in the Kincaid-James series was no disappointment, although being a lover of Scotland AND Crombie, I am perhaps biased. But Crombie just gets better (unlike so many mystery writers who have to churn out a new book every year and burn out after a while). The plot involves a long weekend trip to the Scottish highlands by Gemma James, who is invited by her friend Hazel Cavendish. It turns out that this is not going to be the innocent weekend learning some cooking at an old farmhouse run by an old school friend of Hazel's -- Gemma learns that an old lover of (now married) Hazel will be present for the weekend. Not only that, but Hazel has been meeting the old lover, Donald Brodie, in London. Donald runs a family distillery (Scotch) down the road from the farmhouse and will be doing the cookery weekend as well. No-one thinks this weekend is a good idea except Donald, who wants Hazel to leave her husband for him. Needless to say, someone ends up dead and Hazel is a suspect, so Gemma gets involved in trying to solve the murder (to the annoyance of the local police). Duncan ends up joining her, so they are once more working together. Interspersed with this 2003 story are short sections of a story that took place 100 years ago in the same area, with the ancestors of Donald and Hazel and some other characters. In a place where feuds and grudges are rife, the story of family conflict from the past explains some of the tensions in the present day story. All in all, the plotting was excellent and characterization and dialogue well-done. Add to this the Scottish highland backdrop, and this mystery made a great read. I could practically smell the heather. I can hardly wait to find out what happens to James & Kincaid next. I hope Crombie does another "Scottish" mystery soon.
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